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So this weekend I learned what a frittata was. And that frittatas are great for leftovers. And that spellcheck hates the word frittata and thinks I should use Britanni or Brittanay instead.

And to think I was merely concerned about my personal lack of food fluency…

My bf and I tweaked this Bon Appetit/Epicurious recipe, substituting broccoli for the zucchini because they rhyme we wanted broccoli, adding prosciutto because we wanted some meat flavor, and leaving out the mushrooms because neither of us are a fan. Actually, that last bit went something like:

Him: “What about the mushrooms?”
Me: “I don’t like them.”
Him: “And I hate them.”
Me: “Then we won’t have them. What about the olives?” *makes disgusted face*
Him: “Hmmm” *thinking how much he likes olives, I’m sure*
Me: “Well, I’d rather have the mushrooms than the olives.”
Him: “Why don’t we both stretch ourselves? Have the mushrooms and the olives?”
Me: “That’s fine. I’ll eat them if they are chopped small enough.”
Him: “Okay”

So of course, we accidentally-on-purpose forgot all about the mushrooms at the grocery store. Alas.

So while the olives made the final cut, I was pleased to learn that I could not taste them, or any of the other stuff I didn’t like. I tend to have a weird texture thing with certain veggies, and especially fruits. But cutting them up into small bits helps. So does cooking them. And, evidently, drenching them with cheese.

I was impressed with the frittata from the beginning, as soon as I dumped 1 1/2 cups of parm/romano cheese into the egg mixture. I had a big bowl of tasty glue in front of me. Awesome!

The weird part of the recipe is the angel hair, but we found it helped the fritatta keep its shape. I guess it’s a southern Italian thing. I was skeptical, but it worked out really well. So it’s not just veggie/meat leftovers you can dump in there, pasta works too!

I began to wonder how a frittata differed from quiche, because they both seem like egg-pies to me. Quiche has an actual pastry crust, and uses a custard as its “glue.” Ahh. A project for another time.

If Christopher Walken can make cooking videos, so can I.

Thanks Kory.

It has come to my attention that certain Food Fluency readers do not want me to share my “Special Non-Bake Tuna Noodle Casserole” on the grounds that it makes everyone but me want to throw up.

Have it your way. I shall keep my secret recipe to myself. Losers.

Perhaps you’ll prefer this Martha Stewart version. It looks nothing like mine.

You non-video folks are missing out this time. It may be a discussion of taste buds, but I manage to include They Might Be Giants, poor German-speaking Harvard psychologists, capes, and more. Check it out:

Pertinent links behind the cut.
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I made two different kinds of chimichurri and tasted them on beef, pork, and chicken.

To sum up the video for all of you who have a good excuse not to watch it, like blindness or evil bosses who don’t understand the value of 8 minutes of youtube, the two chimmichuri recipes turned out quite different from one another.

Chimichurri is basically known as a garlicky sauce. It goes on pretty much everything, which is one of the reasons I wanted to try it. Think of the options you’d have with a mastered chimichurri sauce recipe!

The first, which I glibly refer to as the “Red Wine Vinegar” version, was flavored with cilantro, parsely, garlic, crushed red pepper, and cumin. The “White Wine Vinegar” version used green peppers, oregano, paprika, garlic, and parsley.

I have a lot to say about parsley in the video. You really should watch it.

Anyhoo, I enjoyed the first recipe over the second one. I could have predicted this, because I’m not too fond of green peppers, but, I wanted to try it anyway. You never know. Especially with sauces, right? It still blows my mind how you can reach the same “end” with different ingredients. That’s fascinating.

So it may have been the peppers, it may have been the vinegar, but it may have been the other spices. I’ll have to keep those combos in mind as I cook in the future. It also may have been the texture. I didn’t get the second sauce as smooth as the first, so those chunks of green pepper weren’t blended, but out there. Oh well.

But I really enjoyed the first recipe! I was especially happy how differently it worked with all the different meats. The chicken really allowed the flavor of the sauce to show. It built up nicely. The pork/sauce combo was probably my favorite, because the pork just seemed really tasty. And the steak/sauce was the most interesting, because it made the steak taste sweet! That was bizarre to me. Has anyone else ever encountered that, meat tasting sweet because of a spicy sauce?

Anyhoo, that’s chimichurri x6. Check behind the cut for the recipe links!

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Stay tuned for a food blog unlike any other.

Perhaps I should explain?

All my life, I’ve been a big failure when it came to food.

Consider the mint cake incident of 2002:

FAIL!

And more recently, the ribbon candy that decided it wanted to crystalize into a cucumber.

FAIL!

I know those are both baking, and not cooking examples, but trust me. The cooking pictures are too horrific to share.

I could blame my family, for not teaching me properly when I was growing up, and for interrupting my serious food concentration with shenanigans.

But that would be petty. And I might have to fess up to how my sister got covered in flour in the first place.

Instead, I have been working towards figuring out this cooking thing, step by step. The process can be painful, but I’m light years beyond where I used to be! Check out how excited I was when presented with my very first non-butter knife! I used it to cut bread dough. Watch out world!!!

Seriously though, for me, food fluency is more than just cooking. It’s understanding everything that has to do with food. How it tastes, how it looks, and, yes, how one makes it. This blog is going to chronicle my learning process. I’m kind of a “poke it and see what happens” kind of learner, so it could be really amusing.

Stay tuned!